Note: Today’s post is part of our “Editor’s Pick” series where we highlight recent posts published by our sponsors that provide practical knowledge and advice on timely and important supply chain and logistics topics. In this post, Rafael Granato from PINC Solutions summarizes a video case study we featured recently on Talking Logistics, part of our “Profiles in Yard Management Excellence” series where we highlight companies (in this case, Batory Foods) that are leading the way in driving continuous improvement and innovation in yard management.
A national food ingredient distributor, Chicago-based Batory Foods had recently opened a 700,000sf flagship DC in Wilmington, Ill., when it realized that its manual yard management processes were in serious need of an upgrade. Over the past few years, Batory Foods had grown from being a Midwest-focused company to one that is focused on national growth.
As part of that growth, the company began offering 3PL services for one of its current suppliers, which also wanted to outsource its DC operations (from the same facility). “A part of that involved the import of a large volume of dairy product containers from New Zealand,” says Daryl Fisher, Director of Supply Chain Solutions and Analytics. “That meant we had to manage the container locations, maintain accurate inventory, and then share that information with our partners.”
The scope of that undertaking increased with the introduction of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) regulations, which put an extra onus on yard security and Batory Foods’ ability to track driver activities and validate their identifications. “We were doing things manually, with a clipboard and a driver sign-in sheet in the office,” says Fisher. “We didn’t have to check driver IDs; it was a pretty simple process.”
